


Ships Passing in the Night (The Locked Room Mystery Remix)

by Ruuger



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Fix-It, Gen, Remix
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-17
Updated: 2018-09-17
Packaged: 2019-07-10 06:07:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15943328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ruuger/pseuds/Ruuger
Summary: Sometimes, Donna dreams of a man.





	Ships Passing in the Night (The Locked Room Mystery Remix)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Dancingsalome](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dancingsalome/gifts).
  * Inspired by [A Cage Without A Key](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4839644) by [Dancingsalome](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dancingsalome/pseuds/Dancingsalome). 



Sometimes, Donna dreams of a man. 

She knows he's always the same man even though when she wakes up, she can never quite remember what he looked like or what he said or did. But in her dreams he's so sharp and real and vibrant that when she wakes up, it feels to her like walking into a fog.

* * *

Shaun leaves her four years into their marriage. Or maybe she's the one who leaves him, the two of them slowly growing apart until the only thing they have in common is the seven million pounds they won in the lottery.

When he's gone, her waking world loses the last of its focus. It's like someone's wrapped her in transparent cotton wool that muffles every sense and emotion, turning the world around her blurry and dull. 

Some days the fog around her is thicker than others, and one such day she forgets to watch where she's going and steps onto the road right in front of a double-decker bus. 

She has just enough time to realise her mistake when a hand grabs the back of her shirt and yanks her backwards. She stumbles back, the bus missing her by only inches, and falls down on her arse on the street. 

The embarrassment of the situation makes Donna want to lash out; to complain about the bruising on her coccyx and the tear on her shirt, but when she looks up to face her rescuer, the world suddenly snaps into focus, leaving her breathless and out of words.

Her rescuer is a skinny blond woman in her thirties who looks at Donna with an expression of shame and pity. There's something about her that makes Donna think of hospitals, and she idly wonders if the woman might be one of those clowns that cheer up sick children. She's certainly dressed for the part. 

The woman holds out her hand and then easily pulls Donna to her feet even though she's skinny enough that Donna could eat her for breakfast and still have room for a mint.

They stand there for a moment, facing each other hand in hand, until the woman looks away and lets go of Donna's hand.

"I'm sorry I can't do more," she says and walks away, leaving Donna alone in the fog.

* * *

The fog only thickens after grandad dies. 

Donna's going through his belongings with her mother, dividing everything to things to keep and things to donate when she finds a heavy scrapbook hidden in his sock drawer. Its filled with printed web pages and newspaper clips, all about weird events and disasters all over the world. There's one clipping in particular that catches her attention; a photograph of a man caught in a CCTV camera after an explosion at Henrik's. He's rather handsome except for the unfortunate ears, and even though the image is pixelated and blurry, there's something about it that feels sharp and real, and she finds that she can't look away. 

Suddenly the book is snatched from her hands, and she looks up to see her mother shoving it into the bag of rubbish she's taking to the bins.

"He always had those weird interests," her mother mutters, and then leaves the room before Donna can object.

* * *

It happens again a few months later when she's waiting for Sharon at the perfume section of Harvey Nichols and a man suddenly bumps into her. He's tall and handsome even if Donna has never liked men with long hair, and she's already considering asking him out for a coffee when he goes and ruins everything by insulting her fashion sense.

"What do you mean, I 'look like it could have been the nineties'?"

The man at least has the decency to to look ashamed. "So it's definitely 2015 and not 1995?" He asks, his attractiveness as a potential future Mr Noble fading away at every word. 

"Yes!"

The man frowns, looking around. "I'm not sure what I'm even doing here. "

"What, you got amnesia or something? "

He shrugs. "Not sure, but could be. It's more common than people think."

There's a commotion coming from the other side of the cosmetics department, and the man suddenly turns around and sprints towards the sound.

"How can you not know if you have amnesia!" Donna shouts after him as the fog descends again.

* * *

The last time it happens, she's at a Costa Coffee near St Pancras. She's trying to decide between a latte and an americano when she's distracted by the sound of arguing in the queue behind her. She turns around, and the world snaps into focus again, revealing a tall, thin, grey-haired man being lectured to by a young black woman. 

"Why do I have to pay? You're the reason why the Tardis decided to strand us in London!"

She's certain she's never seen the man before, but nevertheless his face seems familiar. He's wearing a hoodie and a David Bowie t-shirt, a pair of shades even though they're indoors, and has a guitar slung over his shoulder. 

"Because I don't have any money."

The girl crosses her arms and leans back to better glare at him. "What are you, the Queen of Gallifrey?"

The man opens his mouth to say something, but then clearly decides against it. He looks away from the girl and meets Donna's eye, and she can tell that he's recognised her as well. 

The girl frowns and follows the man's gaze.

"What?" she says, confused, and then suddenly smiles when she sees Donna. "Ooh, is she someone who used to travel with you?" 

There's something in the way that the man is looking at her that makes Donna feel like she needs to make it clear that she has nothing to do with Mr. Mid-Life Crisis. 

"Excuse me, but I have never seen him in my life."

The man quickly turns away, but Donna catches a flicker of shame on his face. The girl notices it too, her expression changing. 

"Really? Her too?" She swats his arm. "Do you go around just picking up women and then wiping their minds when you get bored? How do I know you haven't done it to me too and I've just forgotten!"

The girl stalks out of the coffee shop and the man gives Donna one last look before following her.

* * *

When Donna comes home that night, she finds the man from the coffee shop sitting on her bed. There's a blue police box in the corner of her bedroom, but somehow that or the strange man on her bed doesn't seem at all strange. It's like she's dreaming, like when she dreams of the man whose face she can never remember. And maybe she is, maybe it's been all a dream, her whole life.

"We saved you," she says, the words tumbling out of her mouth before she can stop them, "In Pompeii. We saved you from the volcano."

Except that she doesn't know who the we is and why she would say that. She's never even been to Italy because Sharon said that the beaches aren't worth it and besides, she's never liked pasta.

The man frowns, confused, and then gives her a gentle smile. "You did. And I'm sorry." 

He stands up and crosses the room to her, and Donna knows that she should run or scream or do _something_ , but she doesn't, because she feels safe in a way that she hasn't in a long time. 

The man gently puts his hands on each side of her face, and then leans down and kisses her. There are whispers in Donna's mind, and she finds herself thinking of the fairy tale about the princess and the frog, but she can't decide which one of them is which. Whether she expects him to look different when she opens her eyes or if she's the one who will be changed.

Finally the man breaks the kiss. "I'm sorry," he says again, and even with her eyes closed Donna can tell that he's walking away. 

When she opens her eyes, the world blurs and then sharpens again, the sights and sounds and smells around her suddenly too much and at the same time not enough. 

She takes a deep breath, turns around, and kicks the door of the Tardis.

"Oi! Get back here, Spaceman! You've got some explaining to do!"

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for killing Wilf :(


End file.
